Break the Skin

Alternating sections between three women in southern Illinois and a tattoo artist in Texas, this is the story of a lonely "clan of women who'd do almost anything for love." Laney Volk is a shy teenager in a small southern Illinois town who falls out with her mother and goes to live with an older woman, Delilah Dade, in the trailer she shares with another woman named Rose MacAdow. Both Delilah and Rose become captivated by Tweet, the lead singer of a band passing through town, while Laney becomes friends with Lester Stipp, a hanger-on with the band. Months later, Lester mysteriously turns up in Texas, where he's taken in by equally lonely tattoo artist Miss Baby. The rivalry between Delilah and Rose for Tweet's affection turns bitter after he chooses Rose, with the novel's shocking final confrontation changing all of their lives permanently. VERDICT Carrying an almost archetypal resonance, this well-crafted tale of romantic desperation feels as sad and inevitable as an old murder ballad and should have an appeal beyond readers of serious fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 12/6/10.]—Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, North Andover, MA